94 Audi 80 2.6 V6 Quattro Avant

[r16vka]

I had a set of mk4 golf heated seat elements sitting that I originally bought to run heated seats in the anni, but they wouldn't have matched up to the recaros. But the layout matched up with the leather seats I have for this, so I started looking at the wiring

Similar wiring colours but different plug, so I chopped the plug off the mk4 elements and tried them roughly with the audi plug to make sure they worked. Glad I did as they just weren't working! Saved me the hassle of trying to get the leather off!
So I threw in the (unheated) leather front seats

I'm loving the contrast of the biscuit against the red, bit of an old school ferrari colour combo going on!
Gear gaiter and the built by basil knob with its homage to the audi sport colours fitted

Blaupunkt head unit in, although I need to swap some wires about to get the power to it

Amazing how small they are when there's no cd player!
Need to get the leather and foam stuck back onto the door cards and get them fired back in.

I then turned my attention to the engine.
Autodoc bringing the goodies...

There is a fairly fresh radiator in the car which suggests a previous one had a leak. in the pipes/expansion tank has hints that Radweld has been used

So plan is to change expansion tank and oil cooler, and generally flush out as much of the system as i can in a bid to make the cooling system as efficient as possible.

Old expansion tank had seen better days

Gave in behind the tank a clean..

This is never going to be a show winner, but im just trying to tidy things up with a bit of attention to detail as i go..

Should probably have not sprayed the driveway stones

Much Better..

 

[r16vka]

Engine maintenance work now

The oil cooler on these is prone to causing heating issues, so it got replaced

The bottom half of the engine has two different gaskets, both of which appear to have been leaking over the years. So in a bid to make the engine as healthy as possible I decided to change them both

56 bolts, one driveshaft and a starter motor later and they were both out

As always, awkward as hell when your only at axle stand height, in the dark. Hard to get a decent photo but you get the jist.

Sump cleaned and new gasket on

New oil cooler and filter fitted

The bolts along where the gearbox meets the engine were exceptionally hard to access. One of them fell off the socket on the way back in, landing inside the gearbox Bell housing
Thankfully my mechanic leant me a super strong tiny bendy magnet from a dsg service kit and I was able to retrieve it

Oil and coolant filled up and its good to go. I've got rocker cover gaskets to change, but I want to do a bit of inlet port matching and a few mods to the inlet/crankcase breathing but that can wait till after dubshed.

 

[natogreen16v]

you lucky ******* getting that bolt out lol

 

[r16vka]

Engine back together and running it was time to focus on the door cards.
Original interior suffered from the same issue they all do, foam/glue disintegrates over time and the cloth hangs off.

I'd had the s2 door cards retrimmed by arek in Ballymena back in 09 to match the leather of the seats he'd done in 08. But sitting in an attic for 14 years meant they too were starting to come apart.
What arek appears to have done is glued the leather to the cloth in a bid to avoid touching the sticky foam.

So step one was to get the sticky foam off the plastic of the door cards. Power washer took 95% of it off

Then scrape it off the fabric/leather

Then cut some closed cell polyethylene foam to the required size. Closed cell so when the spray glue is applied the foam doesn't soak it all up and loose its shape when you try to push it down.

Taped off around the area to be sprayed with masking tape

Sprayed with glue, then put the foam on.

Sprayed that and the underside of the fabric/leather.

Then took off the masking tape And stuck the leather down

Fit all handles and speakers back on. Then repeat on the front cards

Finally started to fit the rs2 carbon trim that's been in a box for 15 years

 

[r16vka]

So the front door pockets on the s2 door cards I had started trying to make fibreglass speaker pods back in 08, but they weren't working out so ended up beyond using
So I carefully drilled out the pockets from the quattro script door cards

This left me with small bits that went into the holes that I was able to melt into the s2 door cards

Holding well

Factory insulation and foam block installed

So back in 08/09 when I'd bought the s2 door cards and electric window kit I'd managed to get some of the rare (even back then) carbon trim with the blue weave. I think I'm right in saying its just from the rs2 but it might have been on the s2 too?

Either way, they're now like hens teeth and a Kings ransom if you can find a set!

And finally after 15 years they're fitted in the car

Obviously back when I had the retrim the tdi 80 was metallic blue so it contrasted well. My wife hates the biscuit leather against the red, but I love it! There's a 80s ferrari vibe going on

 

[jferg]

Loving following this on insta mate. Doing amazing work bringing the parts back to life

 

[karl7900]

Amazing work! Wish I had the space and ability myself to tackle jobs like this.

I had an 80 2.0E Avant back in the early 00’s and it was a cracking car.

 

[r16vka]

@karl7900 this is mostly done in my stone driveway as i cant get the car into my small garage

as for ability, id say just give stuff a go. With the wealth of youtube/old forums/google & friends theres always help on how to do things! Im a cad monkey with delicate office based hands rather than a trained mechanic, but ive done my fair share of engine rebuilds and full strip downs in the last 25 years

 

[ger16v]

Great work love this type of resto
The door cards brilliant work look amazing
Keep it coming

 

[richie_mck]

That’s really taking shape now. I wish I had your motivation to work on cars, I need to get my finger out

 

[Rigger]

Great work, and hat off to you tackling this.

 

[Craggus]

So the front door pockets on the s2 door cards I had started trying to make fibreglass speaker pods back in 08, but they weren't working out so ended up beyond using
So I carefully drilled out the pockets from the quattro script door cards
View attachment 390199
This left me with small bits that went into the holes that I was able to melt into the s2 door cards
View attachment 390202
View attachment 390203
Holding well
View attachment 390204
Factory insulation and foam block installed
View attachment 390200
View attachment 390201
So back in 08/09 when I'd bought the s2 door cards and electric window kit I'd managed to get some of the rare (even back then) carbon trim with the blue weave. I think I'm right in saying its just from the rs2 but it might have been on the s2 too?
View attachment 390205
Either way, they're now like hens teeth and a Kings ransom if you can find a set!
View attachment 390206
View attachment 390207
And finally after 15 years they're fitted in the car
View attachment 390209
View attachment 390210
Obviously back when I had the retrim the tdi 80 was metallic blue so it contrasted well. My wife hates the biscuit leather against the red, but I love it! There's a 80s ferrari vibe going on

That looks absolutely class!! A lot of effort but I'm sure makes you appreciate the end result even more!

 

[r16vka]

Front window was knackered, delaminating, pebble dashed with stone chips making it hard to see out of and the wipers sounded like sandpaper

So car got booked into auto windscreens and motorspares in Bangor for a new screen and trim.

Then I brought it home and got it up on stands to fit a new droplink, clean the arches and paint the calipers

Before

Good snowfoam and agitate with a brush...

And they came put amazing! Could do with a few hours of tar remover, but they're looking good for the age of car! Calipers painted black as I think red just wouldn't look right

I think next winter when it comes off the road I'll do a full chassis refurb, but for now I'm happy with that!

 

[r16vka]

Got the car booked into streetracer in Bangor for a full stainless exhaust.

Original one was like a patchwork quilt and the standard cats were hanging quite low, which meant it was catching on my driveway. And there was definitely at least one blow out, meaning the car wasn't running 100%

With the car being pre 2000 it didn't need a cat for mot, so the decision was made to do a straight pipe to a backbox

It's a bit loud and obnoxious but it's definitely breathing a lot better. Haven't really driven it enough, but there is space under there to fit a resonator in the future if I feel the need.

Had it booked for mot on 18th March which it passed with no issue, which I crazy considering how much has changed

My classic insurance policy was priced off 1500 miles a year, but with it being off the road for all the work it's covered a whopping 200 miles!

Oh and I finally fitted the centre caps to the wheels. When nuluk did the refurb the centres were very hard to remove even before being mounted to the car, so it was always a fear that with all the work being done that someone would break a centre trying to rip it off to get a wheel off. But hopefully there should be no need for the next while for the wheels to be off

 

[Gambit]

you must have forgotten to post the video of it on full song??

 

[r16vka]

Theres a oil pressure warning comes on everytime i rev it past 3k, which is filling me with fear that there actually is an issue. Ive to switch a few wires on the sensor should sort it. Plus i'll be taxing it for start of April, so i can actually start enjoying it. I promise i'll get a few videos up then.

 

[Father Stack]

This is class!! Fair play for the work done yourself too, much be such a rewarding feeling.

 

[ger16v]

Looks fantastic - hope you kept the cats - do not be surprised if you have to reinstate them in the future
That exhaust with with no additional boxes might get quite annoying - depending how old you are!!

 

[Phil_D]

Love this...Looks absolutely brilliant, have always loved the Audi 80 shape, superb work

 

[r16vka]

Looks fantastic - hope you kept the cats - do not be surprised if you have to reinstate them in the future
That exhaust with with no additional boxes might get quite annoying - depending how old you are!!

Yeah as much as the rasp at high revs is great, the drone at normal speeds might wear me down lol (I'm 43 btw)
I'll report back tomorrow as I'm driving it to eikon show centre for its indoor slot at dubshed

 

[cauld1]

Looks great!

Oh the exhaust, wouldn't necessarily need to put cats back in but another silencer probably wouldn't be the worst thing! On my bm I had as straight exhaust to backbox and ended up putting an additional silencer in the middle as it was obnoxiously loud (a prohibition notice in Scotland solely on noise also helped with the decision)

 

[DJMCA]

@r16vka how did you find Street Racers work? I tried to get them to do a bit of exhaust work a while back and gave up as they were hard to get organised

 

[Boydie]

@r16vka how did you find Street Racers work? I tried to get them to do a bit of exhaust work a while back and gave up as they were hard to get organised

Did the exhaust on our Q5, no complaints and when one hanger broke ages later, he sorted it quickly FOC

 

[r16vka]

The work is dead on, i think the problem is Andrew who owns the business is the one that does exhausts, but hes away most of the time overseas as his son competes in european karting championships. So the business has taken a back seat to that!

I'd been at him for a good month or more for a price for the work, i eventually got him guilted into doing the work in the evenings.

 

[Tufty]

I absolutely love this and it looked so good this weekend.